June 15, 2009: The USC Russian Department completed, for the third straight year, its study-abroad program to Taganrog. Unlike many programs, the Russian Department focuses on individual attention and growth in all areas of Russian language, literature, and culture, a three-pronged approach that demands a small group of talented students. This year, students studying a wide variety of disciplines (International Business, Pre-Law, Anthropology, Economics, Photography, etc.) attended TTI for four weeks of intensive study.
The program began in Moscow, where students spent three days learning the history of the city and visiting key cultural and historical centers like the Kremlin and the Tretokovskaya Gallery. From there, the students made their way to Taganrog, where they lived with host families while taking classes at TTI. Their classes were taught in Russian, representing another, more professional facet of Russian immersion beyond the host families.
On the weekends, TTI and USC professor Dr. Maia Solovieva scheduled small excursions all around the Rostov region. From Tanais to the Azov Museum and from the Chekov family home to the family store, students got a taste for Russian culture and history that is impossible to fully grasp in the classroom.
Now in its third year, the USC-TTI study-abroad program is stronger and more prosperous that ever before. American students return to South Carolina with increased knowledge and understanding of Russian language and culture, while Russian host families learn much from their American guests simply by exposure. Many Americans from this and previous years' programs created such strong relationships with their guests that they keep in touch years later. Though the program only lasts a month, the effective program scheduling and class structures create positive changes in participants' world-view that last forever.
